Great idea from Emika (whom I’ve never heard of before the Songkick newsletter that promoted the campaign) and Detourjam: They let the fans decide which cities Emika will play on a four dates tour in May. Yes, there are services and apps for Facebook and websites for fans to enter their town and keep up the illusion that, if all your neighbours enter too, your favourite band will come play your town square (Serious question: Did this ever work for anyone? Does anyone even look at the results of such things?)
What makes the difference here is the commitment: The artist promises a gig in the four cities that reach the set goal of 100 sold tickets first, within a time frame of four set days. And the fans actually purchase the tickets for their gig. As with Kickstarter campaigns, you won’t be charged if your concert does not come through. Benefit for the early bird fans: Pre-order tickets are cheaper than the ones that go on sale after a city is confirmed.
Seems like a win-win situation for artists, promoters/venues, and fans. There still needs to be promotion around these dates to get the word out to new fans, but £ 1.000,- per night will definitely make touring easier for everyone involved.
Numbers seem a bit low so far: London is the top-selling gig with 59 tickets left (means 41 sold). Cities 2-4 have each sold 3-7 tickets. (Smart move to change the wording to “xx tickets left”.) Emika has a bit over 14.000 Fans on Facebook, with a bit more promotion and the support of of partners like Songkick I guess this will work out. Fingers crossed for an innovative idea!
PS: Kudos to Detourjam for their stance towards fees, very refreshing in a time of print-at-home and pick-up-yourself fees.
PPS: I really like Songkick – you get email notifications when your favourite bands (synced with the ones you like on Facebook) come to your city. (Or, if you are like me, to any city you like to travel to.) Their app is pretty cool too.
Burn them books but the mind still grows. 